The Diary of a Nobody

‘I fail to see’, writes suburban bank clerk Charles Pooter ‘– because I do not happen to be a “Somebody” – why my diary should not be interesting.’ More than just interesting, The Diary of a Nobody is a comic masterpiece. First published in 1892, and never out of print since, this edition features Weedon Grossmith’s original illustrations, including the ‘séance’ scene, rarely published since the first edition. Whatever he turns his attention to – from home improvements to exchanging excruciating puns with his ‘dear wife’ Carrie – Pooter reveals a talent for blunders and accidents. His diary of domestic pleasures and woes, his friends’ foibles and the exploits of his irreverent son Lupin, is both endearing and unwittingly funny.

‘The funniest book in the world’ Evelyn Waugh

George Grossmith was a Gilbert and Sullivan star, and the most famous comedy-sketch pianist of the Victorian era. His brother Weedon counted acting, playwriting and painting among his talents; his drawings for The Diary of a Nobody were published to great acclaim. The biographer Tony Joseph wrote that ‘in their precise and careful detail these illustrations ... reinforce the text to perfection.’

‘There’s a universality about Pooter that touches everybody … fits into the tradition of absurd humour that the British do well, which started with Jonathan Swift and runs through Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear to Monty Python’ Jasper Fforde, Time Out